occultcetera paganish blog

[tokyosnapshot]

Sasuke Inari Shrine

[funfungalgal]

there’s something mythological about doing blacksmithing as a disabled person

[ducissatenebrarum]

Aaron S. Coleman, “The Vulture Eats Between Its Meals” 

[funfungalgal]

more brighid the smith

[funfungalgal]

Brigid at the Forge — Joanna Powell Colbert

[polyteleology]

Brigid, Goddess of Poetry, Midwifery and Smithing by Gemma Zoe Jones.

[funfungalgal]

being spiritually pulled in different directions and i don’t know if i can make them be compatible

[mayticks-art]

It’s easy to Summon the Raven 💀💞

[ars-satura]

Words of wisdom written by wise wizard.

[funfungalgal]

wish it was a translation from the original though

[endothermicmammal]

One of the books I’m waiting for.

Picatrix: A Medieval Treatise on Astral Magic Translated with an introduction by Dan Attrell and David Porreca

A manual for constructing talismans, mixing magical compounds, summoning planetary spirits, and determining astrological conditions, Picatri

http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08213-4.html

My growing irritation with the poor editing job as well as a few grammar issues of the Greer/Warnock edition is one of the main reasons why I can’t wait to get my hands on this version. Which is technically written for academics, not Occultists, but still, there’s procedural advice not discussed in the Greer/Warnock version either.

[coyote-696]

Oh damn, that looks wonderful

[haremask]

@kobold-trickster !!!!!

[funfungalgal]

fuckin FINALLY

[industrialfire]

[wolfinthethorns]

A little warning about Robin Artisson...

You know, I hate to speak ill of people, but you know that feeling when a name from the past pops up and your hackles go up? Yeah, like that.

It seems like Robin Artisson, aka Son of Art, aka owl_clan, aka bloody hell not him again to any pagan over the age of 35 who was active on LiveJournal, has found himself a veneer of respectability on here.

Be really fucking wary of him

Back in the day, circa the 2005-2007, Artisson made quite the name for himself among online pagan circles for getting himself banned from pretty much everywhere for coming in, setting himself up as The Expert On Everything, and then viciously bullying anyone who disagreed with him - verbally abusing and threatening them, orchestrating sock-puppet pile-ons, stalking people around all the communities and other sites they were active on, leaving abuse on their personal blogs, the works. He was exactly the kind of person who would flood people’s in-boxes with anon hate on here. If he got called out by the mods, he invariably threw his toys out the pram and would porn-spam the community until he got banned, then pop back up under a different name and do it all again. And you really had to be going some to get banned from nonfluffypagans for arseholery, believe you me.

His areas of “expertise” covered Traditional Witchcraft, Druidry, Asatru/Heathenry, and Celtic Reconstructionism, all of which he’d definitely mastered and been researching intensely for at least 15 years (despite only being in his mid-20s at the time). By all accounts, he was (and probably still is) pretty well read, but equally a lot of what he claimed as Unassailable True was self-aggrandising bollocks he’d made up. (I’m all for UPG, but ffs acknowledge it as that). If you questioned his knowledge, asked for sources, or had the temerity to be doing it different to him, you were doing it Wrong, you were a fluffy new-ager, or a “gods-cursed idiot aetheist” conspiring against the True Old Religions, or a child, or he just bombarded you with obscenities. Quite frankly, he had his head so far up his arse he resembled a one-man Human Centipede.

Aside from this winning personality, he was gallopingly racist - claiming that he had it first hand from the Gods that you had to be “sufficiently” racially pure to practice any kind of Northern European tradition, that interbreeding was “polluting” magic, a whole bunch of neo-nazi master race crap, that Islam was eeeevil, among other things. He had a massive hard-on for Wim Wenders, too, by all accounts. He was also hugely misogynistic (females are inherently inferior and only useful for breeding, so it was their duty to be sexually appealing to men, and so forth), transphobic, homophobic, and generally an all-round charming individual.

Sadly, the bulk of the proof of all this behaviour has been lost to deleted blogs and forums, and LJ communties that have long been eaten by pornbots. The only real catalogues of that history are things like Encyclopedia Dramatica, and I really wouldn’t recommend going there.

Now, I would love to believe that ten years on, he’s grown as a person and left his bigoted, trolly past behind him. Gods know I was an uninformed bell-end back then. Unfortunately, a swift googlewhack and skim of his FaceBook, it seems that no, he’s still a racist, Islamophobic twat who bullies people off groups and communities. Only now he’s a twat who’s published some books, which means people are listening to him.

So yes. Maybe he has some useful and/or interesting things to say these days, but be very, very careful of him. Take what he says with a sizeable pinch of salt, and cross reference his assertions. Keep him at arm’s length. He did a lot of damage back in the day, and for those of us who remember that and/or had run ins with him, it’s going to take as serious effort on his part to win any trust from us.

[andrusmagnus]

Chopper American 19thC

[carasidhe]

Dealing with the Fey

This came up in a class I taught at the Morrigan’s Call retreat last weekend. We were talking about the fairy queens and dealing with them. And the thing is they will sometimes come to people, especially people in dire straights, especially witches or people with special talents, and make offers. Knowledge. Security. Healing.  But there is always a cost.  When Bessie Dunlop was approached by an emissary of Fairy, in 17th century Scotland, she was offered ‘goods and gear’ and livestock in exchanging for renouncing her baptism and pledging herself to Fairy instead.  And that was pretty common - they’d offer help and healing and knowledge for the person to use to gain money, but in exchange they always want something. Often what they want is loyalty to them and there is no time limit on that. Getting out of Fairy once you’ve been taken in, as folklore shows us, is a very difficult thing.  So should you ever be in the position to make any deals give some serious thought to how much you value your independence and how long forever really is.  And remember negotiating is always an option. They may want one thing but that doesn’t mean you have to give it - you can make a counter offer. Just don’t offer anything you aren’t truly willing to give.

[haremask]

Snow serves many useful functions. It acts as an insulation blanket, decreasing heat loss from the soil and preventing deep penetration of the frost layer. Nice and shrews use the space between the snow and the soil surface and are able to carry out their daily activities in this zone of relative warmth with little fear of predators and severe weather. Some species, such as ruffled grouse, actually burrow into loose, fluffy snow to roost, thus conserving heat and avoiding predators. A new fallen snow reveals the activities of animals — the spot where a red fox caught a mouse, the trail of a gray squirrel searching for its buried acorns. The tracks and signs of animals are clearly visible to read and interpret.

John R. Tester, Minnesota’s Natural Heritage

[yenne-velt]

Bioregional Animism Directory

Version 1.4

Last updated 2018-06-16

Here are some blogs who are run by people who specialize or incorporate bioregional animism into their practices. If you would like to see your blog on here, shoot me a message!

Australia

@blackbirdwitchery (Tasmania; urban; death, vulture culture, spirit work, traditional and folk magic, pop culture magic, Shinto, Kemeticism)

@lilyofthewest (Queensland, Gold Coast; Han Chinese)

Canada

@chaoskyan (Montreal; St. Lawrence River; local spirits and gods, herbalism, death magic, chaos, sigils, spellcraft)

@elphamebound (Ottawa, Ontario; thickets, fields, forests; folklore, living traditions, witchcraft)

@moss-on-the-keys (Pacific Northwest)

@queerqueerwitchcraft (Treaty 7 Territory; boreal forest, foothills, rocky mountains, prairies, parkland; Metis)

United States

@arachnospooky (Central Valley CA; Kemetic)

@aresfaeries (Midwest; forests, rivers, creeks, streams, lakes; Ares devotee, fae, green, sea, hedge practices, tarot)

@blackbearmagic (central MD/northern MN; invasive species; Kemetic, animal spirit work)

@broomstocleanorfly (urban TX and northern CA, OH, Pacific Northwest; time and chaos magic)

@calen-witch (Interior AK; boreal forest)

@florida-magic (FL)

@haremask (Great Lakes/Northern Midwest; urban)

@hausofdahlia (Southern IL; lakes and forests; death, fae, and bones)

@inhearthandhedge (Las Vegas, NV; spirit work, plants, home)

@justaqueerwitchy (Bluffton, SC; forests, marshes, oceans, and swamps; agnostic, omnitheist, and secular)

@leaping-hare-witchery (Pacific Northwest; sea witch)

@magicianmew (Richmond, VA; humid subtropical climate zone, rivers, and swamps)

@norcal-animist (Bay Area, CA; oceanic, coastal, riparian, salt marsh, agrarian; gaming, Filipino American with Chinese ancestry; long-term intercultural relationship with Mexican folk magic, spirit observer, not a witch, Judaism)

@renniequeer (North-central FL; swamps, marshlands, woodlands; Heathen/Anglo Saxon; New England, French Canadian, and family folklore)

@southerncunning (FL)

@themixedwitch (FL)

@themodernsouthernpolytheist (Atlanta, GA; Mississippi Delta, streams, swamps, Southern Appalachian mountains; death, Gaelic polytheist, Southern folk magic)

@unlikelyhideoutperfection (TX; lakes; Egyptian and Greek pantheons)

@volare-ad-sol (Kansas City, MO; forest and moon magic, creeks, Odin, Unitarian Universalist, runes, Latin)

@wanderingchaos (MN; Nyx solitary devotee; divination, spirit communication and removal/relocation)

@wotinincarnation (San Diego, CA; dragons, spirit/energy/astral worker, East Asian folk magic, divination)

@yenne-velt (Western WA; folkloric witchcraft, Judaism)